Ronald Bailey Reports that the Internet Does Not Increase Transnational Terrorism

Terrorists are using the Internet to plot “murder
and mayhem,” British Prime Minister David Cameron declared this
week, as a parliamentary committee issued a report accusing
Internet firms of providing a “safe haven for terrorists.” Cameron
and the committee were referring specifically to a brutal knife
attack that killed British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in
May 2013, but the charge has been levied more broadly as well.
Earlier this month, British spymaster Robert Hannigan claimed that
Silicon Valley had created “the command-and-control networks of
choice for terrorists.” Reason Science Correspondent
Ronald Bailey reviews the data and finds that the Internet is
actually not much help to terrorists in organizing transnational
attacks. But casting the Internet as a “safe haven for terrorists”
does give governments another excuse to violate our privacy in the
pretense of protecting our security.

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